Measuring Memory Development in Adulthood: A Model-Based Approach to Disentangling Storage-Retrieval Contributions. In: Howe ML, Brainerd CJ, editors. Cognitive Development in Adulthood. New York: Springer; 1988. pp. 39-64. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4612-3852-2_2]

Reconsolidation or interference? Aging effects and the reactivation of novel and familiar episodic memories

We examined aging effects in reconsolidation and interference in episodic memory by reactivating memories for well-learned items in young and healthy older adults while controlling memory strength and the degree semantic processes contributed to memory. In Experiment 1, young and old adults learned pairs of real words and images to a strict criterion. After 24-hours, half of the images were reactivated and new words were paired with the images and learned to criterion. Following a 1-week delay, recognition and source monitoring were measured for both sets of pairings. Experiment 2 was a replication of Experiment 1, but using previously unknown novel words and unusual images. As predicted, older adults needed more trials to learn both the A-B and A-C pairings. Older adults required more trials to learn the new associations for reactivated than the not reactivated pairs, although there was no main effect of reactivation and no Age x Reactivation interaction for measures of recognition one-week later. These results are inconsistent with previous findings concerning age differences in reactivation effects in episodic memory. Instead, they suggest that once memory strength and input from semantic memory are better controlled, young and old adults perform similarly on tests of long-term recognition memory.

The Last shall be First: How Memory Strength Affects Children's Retrieval

When items are read out of storage during unconstrained recall, how should their memory strengths affect recall order? Commonsense argues that items will present themselves to consciousness in the order of their relative memory strength and that, hence, the read out sequence will be stronger to weaker. In experiments with 6- to 13-year-olds, however, this sequence was never obtained. Dichotomous measures of memory strength (strong vs. weak) showed that weak items were always recalled before strong items. Continuous measures of memory strength showed that the sequence was weaker to stronger to weaker. This pattern, which we term the cognitive triage effect, occurred at all age levels, for a variety of material, with different definitions of memory strength, and became more pronounced with age. Three results suggested that the pattern was not due to a deliberate strength-based ordering strategy: The pattern was observed in children as young as age 6; it was present at the earliest stages of recall; and adults (who also exhibited the pattern) were unaware of what they were doing.

Invariance of cognitive triage in the development of recall in adulthood

Past research has demonstrated that cognitive triage (weak-strong-weak recall pattern) is a robust effect that optimises children's recall. The aim of the current research was to determine whether adults' free recall also exhibits triage and whether cognitive triage is less marked with older than younger adults' recall. Younger and older adults memorized 16 unrelated words until all items were recalled perfectly. The triage pattern existed for both the younger and older adults' recall and there was evidence for age differences in triage. Our results are consistent with claims of greater verbatim forgetting and increased susceptibility to output interference with age in adulthood. Further research is needed to determine whether fuzzy-trace theory adequately explains the ageing of triage and what factors play a role in the development of this pattern of recall in adulthood.

The Item-Specific Deficit Approach to evaluating verbal memory dysfunction: rationale, psychometrics, and application

In the current study, we introduce the Item-Specific Deficit Approach (ISDA), a novel method for characterizing memory process deficits in list-learning data. To meet this objective, we applied the ISDA to California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) data collected from a sample of 132 participants (53 healthy participants and 79 neurologically compromised participants). Overall, the ISDA indices measuring encoding, consolidation, and retrieval deficits demonstrated advantages over some traditional indices and indicated acceptable reliability and validity. Currently, the ISDA is intended for experimental use, although further research may support its utility for characterizing memory impairments in clinical assessments.

Association between memory impairment and insomnia among older adults

Chronic insomnia and memory impairment are both common complaints among older adults. Even so, only a few studies to date have examined the effects of chronic insomnia on memory processes among older people, and the results of these studies are contradictory. Therefore, in the current study we examined whether late-life insomnia is associated with the memory status of older adults. The study population comprised two groups: 50 older adult subjects without sleep disorders, and 23 older adult insomniacs. Memory processing for each of the two groups was evaluated using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). The results demonstrate that chronic insomnia in older adults is associated with impairment in memory. Specifically, we found that older people suffering from late-life insomnia exhibit significantly reduced performance in learning rate and in temporal order judgment as well as significantly reduced resistance to proactive interference. The present findings suggest that late-life insomnia may be one of the factors contributing to the decline in memory processing seen among older people.

Remembering what the doctor said: organization and adults' memory for medical information

Remembering medical information over time is important for patients' health and well-being. Younger and older adults' respective memories of information from a videotaped medical feedback session about osteoarthritis were examined as a function of information organization. Participants were randomly assigned to either an organized or an unorganized presentation condition. Retention was assessed immediately, and after 1-week and 1-month delays, by use of a free-recall task. Younger and older adults in general remembered equivalent amounts of medical information. Organization of medical information did not have an impact on the amount of information remembered. Results indicated that participants recalled more medical information immediately than after the 1-week and 1-month delays. Younger adults initially recalled more medical information than older adults; however, younger and older adults remembered equivalent amounts of information after the 1-week and 1-month delays.

Temporal memory and content memory for actions: adult age differences in acquisition and retention

Young adult and elderly adult subjects were tested under incidental memory conditions for recognition memory of content and temporal memory for the order of a series of actions performed in the laboratory. The tests were conducted both shortly after completion of the series and 24 hours later, with different sets of actions tested on each occasion. Recognition memory of content showed no forgetting for the young subjects, but significant forgetting for the elderly subjects. Memory for temporal information was substantially greater for the young subjects than for the elderly subjects. Both age groups showed substantial forgetting of temporal information over the 24-hour retention interval.